Builder's Grade Vanity Revamp

Tired of  the same builder's grade vanity your bathroom has been sporting for years? Well, I got you a quick vanity makeover that's going to give your entire bathroom a brand new look!

I'm on a roll trying to update my entire house on a budget, one single project at a time.  My project today is in my kids bathroom. A small bathroom that was beginning to look dated. 

The main goal for this bathroom is to update it without replacing its major components and/or fixtures.

As I usually say, this is going to be a paint makeover with a few DIY's in the way. ;)

The first project here: Updating the vanity!

This is what the builder gave us as a vanity - A cabinet with two doors and not even a shelf inside. :/

Boring. 

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The ugly Hollywood lights and gigantic unframed mirror didn't help a single bit. 😝

Time to change it!

The materials & tools for this vanity makeover:

• Primer - I used Zinsser Bin Primer
• Paint - I used BM - Tudor Brown - Satin finish
• 2 16-inch pull-handles
• 3/4" Plywood or wooden planks for the shelf
• 120-grid sandpaper
• Tack cloth
• Paint brush
• Furniture feet
• Shelf bracket pegs
• Jig Saw
• Screw driver

1. CLEAN AND PRIME

The first step after removing the doors is to clean all the surfaces that need to be painted. Sand them lightly with a 120-grid sandpaper in order to remove the glossy finish, which is ideal for the primer to get a good grab. Use a tack cloth to remove all the dust particles.

Since the inside of this cabinet is a laminated surface, I had to use the appropriate primer: Zinsser Bin Primer  - Which is formulated for laminate surfaces - otherwise the paint and even other types of primers can peel off those surfaces.

| ZINSSER BIN PRIMER |

2. PAINT

The next step is to paint the cabinet. But wait, before painting the cabinet, I sprayed painted the pipes in silver. I wasn't a fan of the white-silver-gold combination going on there.

The cabinet was given two coats of paint, letting the paint dry in between coats.

I used Benjamin Moore Tudor Brown, the same color I used in my kitchen island.

3. INSTALL A SHELF

This cabinet was always in disarray, I needed to create order in there!

Installing a center shelf was my way to bring organization here.

I repurposed two of these wooden shelves I had removed from the garage.

The dimensions for the cabinet were 42" long x 20" deep.  Each of the two shelves I was going to use were 10" wide - It was a perfect solution width wise. 

However, I had to deal with the plumbing. And that's why I traced and cut out the trajectory of those pipes on the back shelf. 

I measured around the pipes, at the exact height I wanted the shelf to be situated.  With the measurements at hand I got the Jig Saw to cut around my marks, as you can see in the above picture. 

It took me about three or four tries to make it fit snugly.

For the shelf that was going to be situated at the front of the cabinet, these three simple cuts were done:

These two pieces of wood or shelves were going to become only one shelf inside the base cabinet. 

In order keep them in place, little holes were drilled at the height I wanted my shelf to be located, making sure they were all level.  

One shelf bracket peg was placed on each of these holes. They're the ones holding the shelves.

Here again, you can see the little pegs all installed.

This is the way the vanity looked at the end of the day. Not bad, but I thought it was missing something.

4.  ADD AN APRON

Yes, a simple piece of plywood (4.5") placed across the top front of the vanity completely changed its look.

Before installing the apron, two towel holders (long pulls) were installed on it. ;)

5. ADD FEET

Little feet gave it the look of furniture. They brought it to the next level! 

I bought two furniture legs at THD but they were too short. I cut pieces of 2x4 and glued them together to make them the correct size. Love them!

| Baskets | Container Set | Towels |

Well my friends, five simple steps to give a dated boring vanity a new chance in life! Love this view of the bathroom. 

| Towels | Container Set | Pulls | Rug | Baskets |

The vanity is done! :) Check the next project in this little bath:  Updating the bathtub!

Check the full bath makeover HERE.

*This post contains affiliate links.